Series: The Ten O'Clock News
Date: 1977-07-21
Duration: 00:21:00

Subject: Housing
People: Arons, Marjorie; Carter, Jimmy; Timilty, Joseph; Vitagliano, John;
Geography: Charlestown (Boston, Mass.)|

Clip Description
Footage of the building which houses the offices of the Boston Housing Authority in Charlestown. Footage of rundown buildings in the Bunker Hill Housing Project in Charlestown. Many of the buildings have boarded up windows or broken windows. Trash is visible along the sidewalks and walkways in front of the buildings. Shots of a series of photographs of a meeting between Joseph Timilty (State Senator) and Jimmy Carter (US President).John Vitagliano (Boston Housing Inspection Commissioner) is interviewed in his office by Marjorie Arons (WGBH reporter). Vitagliano says that the city of Boston must renovate its existing public housing instead of building new public housing. Vitagliano believes that a program of private-housing subsidies would be superior to the present public housing program. Vitagliano says that the disastrous environment in public housing developments contributes to a cycle of poverty; that public-housing tenants and private landlords would benefit from a private-housing subsidies program. Vitagliano suggests that public-housing projects be shut down and sold to private developers. Vitagliano admits that Boston's public housing projects are de facto segregated.

Series Description
A local program aimed at the Boston audience, The Ten O'Clock News debuted on January 15, 1976. Its two immediate predecessors were The Reporters and Evening Compass. A news and public affairs show focusing on neighborhood, local and state issues, The Reporters was produced and broadcast on WGBH from 1970 to 1973. The Reporters was then replaced by Evening Compass, which expanded into a twice-nightly news broadcast during the tense moments of Boston's busing crisis. On the air from 1973 to 1975, Evening Compass found an audience through its in-depth coverage of school desegregation in Boston, which began in 1974. The Ten O'Clock News stood out as an in-depth news program. It strove for a balance between local and national stories, between politics and the Arts. The last The Ten O'Clock News program was broadcast on May 30, 1991.

See also: http://main.wgbh.org/ton/programs/11_02